Captive of the Beast

by Lisa Renee Jones

  He brushed hair from her face before nodding to the twins. “Make her pain go away and we will talk conditions.”

  The two woman-Demons joined hands, lacing their fingers together. Instantly, Kresley went slack in his arms. Lucan panicked, his heart racing as he touched her face, her cheeks. Her breath brushed his palm. “Oh, thank God.”

  The Demons giggled. “God didn’t do that. We did.”

  For a moment, Lucan stilled with that taunt, every muscle in his body tense. He was turning away from the light, giving himself to the darkness, and they were enjoying every minute of it.

  Composure somewhat regained, Lucan settled Kresley on the blanket and stared down at her for a moment. He touched her lips, then tore his gaze away and pushed to his feet, sword in hand. A rush of malice filled the air. The twins stepped aside and a man appeared. Tezi. Lucan could not believe his eyes. Before him stood the Knight who had once been their leader, a Knight he respected and followed. A Knight who once had been symbolic of all that was good and now reeked of evil. Now he knew what Max and the others had sensed in the woods. It had been Tezi.

  “How could you turn to them?” Lucan hissed, his grip on his sword tightening. “How? You told us to hang on. You told us we had a purpose.”

  “How could I?” Tezi bellowed angrily. “How could they? How could they recruit us to fight evil and then allow us to die a slow, painful death? You know it is true.”

  “They never meant for us to rot, Tezi,” he said. “Some of us were simply proven stronger than others.”

  Suddenly, Max charged into the cave and drew to a halt. “Tezi,” he gasped, stunned. He, too, had once served under the former leader.

  Tezi did not look at Max; his eyes flashed red at Lucan. “Come with me now or this ends here and now for your little firestarter.”

  “Lucan!” Max yelled.

  Lucan sought out Max’s gaze, looking for hope that help was on the way and found the answer he did not want. He had not reached Marisol. Help was hours away. Too long to wait for Kresley.

  He dropped his head, defeated, lifted it and looked again at Max.

  “Don’t do it,” Max pleaded. “Don’t do it.”

  “I don’t have a choice,” he said. “She has a purpose. Saving her is mine.”

  The twin Demons were suddenly by his side, latching on to his arms. His skin crawled with their touch, but he did not fight. Nor did he turn to look at Kresley. He couldn’t. Leaving her was too hard.

  “Take care of her,” Lucan pleaded to Max.

  Lucan steeled himself for his departure. Tezi’s gaze sharply cut to Max. “Adrian has a message for your divine leaders.” Tezi’s words were laced with a taunt. “He has chosen to make my presence known now, because with the claiming of your Knight we declare a new war. We need not defeat you with swords. We will defeat you from within, and we announce this because you are too weak to stop us. Mark my words—many will soon see our way as the true light. Today a new world begins.”

  The bitter promise lanced through the air a moment before he was gone—with him, his Demons…and Lucan, now a fallen Knight of White.

  Chapter 20

  Hidden within the cavern that she and Rinehart had called home for nearly a day, Laura nibbled on a piece of beef jerky as Rinehart did the same. His clean-shaven military persona had roughened to a thin layer of stubble, which rasped across her skin in a way she had found decidedly erotic.

  In the twenty-four hours they’d been hiding, Laura had worried often for her kids, and Rinehart had become her willing distraction. A distraction she had needed desperately to set aside the obstacles they faced outside these walls.

  “What’s wrong?” Rinehart asked, drawing her out of her reverie. She noted he was studying her intently.

  She shook her head. “Nothing,” she said, trying to mean it, but failing.

  Looking unconvinced, Rinehart pressed. “Talk to me, Laura.”

  She hesitated. They’d talked about so much locked inside these walls. About her work, about his past in the army and then in the FBI. She’d even opened up about how being different had affected her growing up. About feeling like an outcast. But Rinehart had held back, avoided certain subjects that seemed important for reasons she couldn’t pinpoint. About his transition into the Knights. All she knew, thus far, was that he was born in 1912 and had become a Knight when he was thirty-two.

  With their escape planned for only a few hours later, Laura decided that now was the time to ask about this. “Will you tell me about becoming a Knight? About how it happened?” A shell-shocked expression flashed across his face, telling her how off guard she’d taken him, a second before he squeezed his eyes shut. Several seconds of silence followed before he slowly leaned back against the wall. Laura had the mental impression of him steeling himself for what was coming, and she found herself doing the same thing.

  “I’d been thinking about leaving the FBI,” he said, finally, his voice low, monotone. “Frustrated over things I was asked to do that felt unnecessary. They weren’t about protecting Americans, but servicing certain interests that, frankly, I thought were corrupt.” He hesitated. “I was engaged to be married. A woman of society who wanted me to move into politics. Looking back, I know I never really wanted that. I simply wanted to make a difference in the world. My thoughts on the agency turned around when I was made agent-in-charge over a case that seemed important—taking down a radical group who planned attacks on our country. Of course, my fiancée wasn’t happy. We fought the night I was leaving for a sting operation in Mexico.” He hesitated, regret and guilt lacing his features. “I had eight good men with me, many with families, all looking to me for sound decisions. I was distracted, not myself at all.” He gritted his teeth, shook his head. “I never saw the attack coming. Never had an indication we were being hunted. But I saw my men attacked. I saw every one of them fall.” His eyes were bloodshot, his voice hoarse. “I let them fall to the Beasts, yet I was the one saved. I am the one here, now. That’s always been hard to swallow.”

  Laura’s heart exploded with grief for him. She crawled across the floor, and slipped between his legs, trying to get close, to offer comfort. “You are not to blame,” she declared huskily. “Distraction be damned, Rinehart. You were attacked by Demons. You were human. Your men were human. They would have fallen no matter what you did.”

  “You don’t know that.” His eyes were heavy with blame, his hands settling possessively on her waist, pulling her closer. “I couldn’t let you fall, too, Laura. I couldn’t. You’re right about me stealing your ability to make that choice. I justified my actions, but deep down I knew what I was doing and why. I simply wasn’t willing to let them have you, too.”

  She pressed her lips to his. “I know,” she whispered. “I know.”

  “Forgive me,” he said, a plea in his voice that reached straight through to her soul.

  “There’s nothing to forgive,” she promised, and she meant it after hearing that story. She understood why he would fear letting her choose. That didn’t mean she liked it, didn’t mean she agreed with his actions. But she understood. In fact, listening to him speak, she’d begun to realize that all war was not about death. That her abilities were meant to save lives in ways she’d never thought she’d consider.

  He inched back enough to probe her expression a moment before pulling the shoulder of her T-shirt down to expose the star. One long finger slid over the mark there as he studied it with heavy thoughts. His gaze lifted, seeking hers. “I have always been some kind of soldier, Laura. It’s who I am. It’s what I am.”

  “Then be that,” she said softly, her voice catching in her throat. “Be who you are. I’ve never been able to do that.”

  “There’s nothing normal about the life of a soldier.”

  Her hand caught his and she kissed it, her lips lifting in a fleeting smile. “Normal is relative, remember?” Then, more seriously: “I just have to figure out what that means for me. Everything has happened so fast.” />
  His lips brushed hers, his hand sliding up her back as he pulled her down on the sleeping bag with him. “I’ll try not to rush you,” he said, his mouth slanting over hers, his tongue flicking against hers for a brief, sensual moment that defied his words. “But don’t take too long. I really don’t know how long I can keep from falling in love with you.”

  He kissed her then, and there was nothing brief about it. A kiss that was filled with tenderness, a kiss that branded her in ways that the mark on her shoulder could not.

  And Laura decided then, that if she could escape this island, she might just find a purpose that reached beyond “normal.” Perhaps it was time she did more than talk to her patients about looking at their abilities as gifts, and embrace her own.

  Extraction time arrived at 4:00 a.m. The rendezvous for Laura and Rinehart with the rest of their group was at the edge of the woods overlooking a vacant beach area. Though there were no signs of Beasts, Rinehart was edgy, ready to get this done. Ready to take Laura to safety and get Rock the hell out of Walch’s hands. But despite all this, he watched with satisfaction as Laura greeted the twins, Blake and even Kresley, in good health.

  Any peace he took from that sight faded as he watched Kresley start to cry and heard her speak of Lucan. Max appeared by Rinehart’s side, leaving Des to guard the others. “Lucan,” he said, his voice low, barely above a whisper, but still rasped with roughness. “He made a deal with the Demons who marked Kresley, traded himself for her.”

  Rinehart damn near doubled over with the news. Not Lucan. “There was another way. We would have found it.” Lucan had made it for three decades. “Only days ago he told me to hang on. He spoke of our purpose.”

  Max’s expression was grim. “He said saving her was his purpose.”

  Rinehart knew then. “She was his mate.”

  “Yes.” Max scanned the beach, his jaw clenched. “The Demons weren’t working on their own.” He hesitated. “Tezi came for him.”

  Rinehart shook himself, certain he had heard wrong. “The former leader of the Knights?” he asked, disbelieving.

  Max gave a jerky nod. “The one and only.”

  A chill raced down Rinehart’s back. Every Knight vowed to see death before allowing themselves to turn.

  “I always assumed there were some of the early Knights remaining, ones like me who hung on to hope,” Max said. “I guess we know now what happens when they hang on too long.”

  “You think that’s it?” Rinehart asked. “That Tezi hung on too long?”

  “Yeah,” Max agreed. “I think he hung on until the darkness became such that he couldn’t see what he was becoming anymore. I think there are others like that out there, too.” He cut Rinehart a sharp look. “And so does Adrian. He sent us a message. A new war has begun.”

  Rinehart would have asked more, but Laura was suddenly by his side.

  “Oh, my God,” she whispered, her hand on his arm a silent comfort he’d never thought possible. “I heard about Lucan. Kresley’s a mess. I’m sure you are, too. I…We’ll go after him. I have powers and—”

  Max eased away, leaving them alone.

  Rinehart wrapped his hand around her neck, under her hair and kissed her forehead. “You’re powerful, baby, but not powerful enough to take on the Underworld.” She was changing, joining their place in this world, whether she knew it or not. And it pleased him in a way he would never be able to put into words.

  “We can try,” she pleaded. “We ca—”

  “We can’t,” he said, cutting her off. “Lucan might as well have made a deal with the devil, and he did so willingly. There is no turning back from that.” The sound of a chopper in the distance put him on alert. It was time to leave—and not a minute too soon, in Rinehart’s book.

  The Knights exchanged a “go ahead” look and launched into action. They’d opted out of arming the others in the planning stages of the escape. None of them had handled guns before, and bullets slowed the Beasts, but did not kill them. The best bet was a focus on fast action.

  Des and the twins headed for the helicopter first. Max followed with Kresley and Blake, then Rinehart and Laura broke out of the woods to follow. At that same moment, a group of at least twenty Beasts charged from the woods. The enemy’s position was not more than half a mile down the beach, and they were headed straight for the chopper.

  Everything happened quickly from there, but it played out for Rinehart in slow, torturous motion. He and the other Knights drew their swords, and Rinehart looked protectively to Laura.

  “I can handle myself,” she said, already running to attack, her intention to fight clear.

  “Damn it,” Rinehart growled, charging forward to keep her close, a tactic that proved impossible as he found himself attacked on all sides. His sword swiped viciously at an attacker, taking the Beast’s head. Then another. But two more came at him.

  He could see Des and Max in the distance, both heavily engaged, as well. Desperate to get to Laura, he fought with a fierceness beyond what he’d possessed before. He had come too far to lose her now. He would not fail. One Beast at a time, he turned his attackers to ash and flames.

  His heart pounding, keeping a tight grip on his sword, he scanned for Laura, running toward her the moment he had a visual. She had her patients all together, but a group of Beasts were stalking them. His heart lurched at the sight, a roar escaping his lips as he charged toward them.

  A second later, relief washed over him as Laura used her abilities to disarm the Beasts, sending their weapons flying across the beach. Kresley shot fire at one of them, a successful hit that sent the Beast running for the water but also seemed to weaken her. Rinehart was close now, his strides eating away the distance, crashing into the sand as his heart slammed into his chest.

  Kresley stumbled and fell, and to Rinehart’s distress Laura wavered in her stance, seeking a visual of Kresley. The Beasts took the moment as an opportunity. They snatched up Blake and started running. Blake became invisible instantly, only he was still in the Beast’s arms. Or was he? The Beast stopped, let his arms fall.

  Blake had a chance to escape, and Rinehart could only hope he took it, because Rinehart couldn’t go to him, not yet. He was finally at Laura’s side, and only a second before Jag orbed to his.

  Des and Max engaged the remaining Beasts at their frontal positions. “I can take two at a time,” Jag said, intending to orb everyone to the chopper. Rinehart knew Marisol wouldn’t leave that chopper to help; she was forbidden to enter a war zone, her healing ability too valuable to endanger.

  Rinehart turned to Laura; Kresley was by her side, their arms linked. “Go with Jag, Laura,” he ordered, directing them toward their leader.

  Her refusal was instant. “No,” she said. “Take the twins. You have to take the twins.”

  Jacob and Jared instantly objected. “We will stay. We can fight.”

  Laura ignored them. “Their blood,” she said, her plea directed at Jag. “It has healing ability. They could save lives in the future. Many lives. Take them.”

  Jag hesitated, and Laura immediately saw this, declaring her case. “Rinehart and I…I have his mark. I’m not at risk. I can’t turn. I won’t turn.” Desperation seeped into her face. “Please. I can fight, Jag. I can survive.”

  “And so can I,” Kresley declared bravely, despite the obvious weak state that the Demons had left her in.

  Rinehart shoved away the fear for his mate, pride filling him at both Laura’s and Kresley’s bravery. Jag didn’t need to hear more, either, nor did he give the twins a chance to argue further. He orbed to a position behind them, touched their shoulders. They disappeared to safety.

  “Go!” Rinehart yelled to Laura, ordering her and Kresley to run to the chopper. He motioned for Des and Max to follow them. “I’ll get Blake.”

  The problem was, he couldn’t see Blake, and another ten-plus Beasts were breaking over the horizon, heading toward them.

  “Damn it!” he yelled, and then muttered as he
scanned, “Where the hell are you, kid?” Then, in the distance, Rinehart saw him, saw Lucan. He carried Blake in his arms as he charged toward the chopper.

  Rinehart’s chest expanded with relief and hope. Everyone was getting out of here safely. And maybe, just maybe, Lucan had found a way out of his deal, as well.

  Now, Rinehart just had to go back and get Rock. New determination formed as he charged toward the woods, ready to make his escape. The heavier churn of the chopper engine had him turning, running backward as he watched the takeoff. His heart stopped at what he saw, his movement stilled. Laura wasn’t on the chopper. She was running toward him, as Lucan ran the opposite direction and disappeared into the woods.

  Lucan entered the woods and stood there, anger coiling in his gut, fists balled by his sides. The silver snakes that shackled his wrists—the result of his refusal to give up his soul—slithered off, and the two silver Demons appeared by his side.

  “Don’t be angry,” they said, their bodies pressed to his side, hands on his chest. That was a feeling he would never get used to. “We let you save the boy.”

  He grimaced. They let him because they did not dare stop him, though he did not say so. That was a card better left in the deck. Torturing his mind was their only weapon, and his actions could have gotten him killed. Tezi would not want to lose his prize.

  “I was promised my mate’s safety,” Lucan said. “She could have been killed.”

  The Demons laughed. “She was saved from us,” they purred. “But no one promised her eternal protection. You were the only one who could have given her that.”

  Lucan’s head spun; a wave of remorse washed over him. What had he done?

  Rebellion formed in Lucan. There would be an eternity of punishment to endure. He might as well get it started in style. He was going to get Rock out of that warehouse.

  Rinehart pulled Laura into the woods and confronted her. “What were you thinking?” he demanded. “You should have been on the chopper!”